What is the quantum of money spent on the president’s visit abroad?
26 Mar, 2012
A series of RTI applications has revealed that an amount of over 205 crores has been spent on the foreign visits of President Ms. Pratibha Patil. As the first women President of the Country, she assumed office in July 2007, and has undertaken 12 foreign trips covering 22
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countries since then. Except for a visit to Bhutan by a smaller jet, all her visits were on a Boeing 747-400 on which the Air India incurred over Rs.169 crore. Further, a sum of nearly Rs.36 crore was spent by the Ministry of External Affairs on accommodation, local travel, daily Allowance and "miscellaneous" expenses. In many of her visits, she was accompanied by her family members. A visit to South Africa is planned during the last four months of her five year tenure.
Ms. Patil has so far visited Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Bhutan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Spain, Poland, Russia, Tajikistan, the UK, Cyprus, China, Laos, Cambodia, the UAE, Syria, Mauritius, South Korea, Switzerland and Austria spending a total of 79 days abroad. Amongst the earlier Presidents, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam undertook seven trips to 17 countries while Mr. K R Narayanan went to 10 countries in six trips and Mr. S D Sharma 16 countries in four trips.